Falling short

The fact that several well-known academics, activists and former public servants are members or sympathisers of the AAP gave it a larger pool to choose from — and to bring their issues and concerns into the House.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s choice of Sushil Gupta and N.D. Gupta as its nominees for Rajya Sabha is remarkable — and controversial — for two reasons. One, it attracts attention once again to what has become a defining and debilitating syndrome for a party that sought to project itself as a player somehow above the game, a challenger to politics-as-usual — internal strife. Supporters of Kumar Vishwas, apparently in the running for the ticket, have loudly and belligerently protested his being overlooked for the job. Two, the credentials of the AAP’s candidates for a berth in the prestigious and increasingly politically influential House are not exactly self-evident. N.D. Gupta, a chartered accountant, has reportedly been handling the AAP’s accounts. Sushil Gupta, owner of the Ganga group of hospitals and colleges, contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections on a Congress ticket and joined the AAP only last month.

It could be said that the AAP enjoys a presence, even influence, in public discourse that is disproportionate to its limited electoral might. This owes partly to the fact that it was a party that took birth in unique and highly publicised circumstances in the national capital, and because it staked claim to the mantle of standard-bearer of the anti-corruption Anna Hazare-led movement of which many of its members were a prominent part. The Rajya Sabha could have been an important theatre for the AAP to continue to punch above its weight. The fact that several well-known academics, activists and former public servants are members or sympathisers of the AAP gave it a larger pool to choose from — and to bring their issues and concerns into the House. It could also have chosen senior party leaders to lend their voice to the Opposition chorus in one of the few theatres where the Opposition is still effective and visible against the BJP.

Politically, the record of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has been patchy since it swept the Delhi elections in 2015. Initially, the Delhi government was constantly at loggerheads with the Centre and former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. The party’s attempts to expand beyond Delhi, especially in Goa and Punjab, did not amount to much. After its poor performance in the 2016 assembly elections, it appeared that the AAP was keen to avoid public confrontations or to spread itself too thin. But through it all, and despite the setbacks, the AAP has continued to claim a higher ground. Its nominations to the Rajya Sabha underline that it is coming up short on its posture and promise.